Treatment of Mild to Moderate Inflammatory Acne: RESULTS
All 10 subjects completed the study. There was a statistically significant reduction in the inflammatory acne lesion count at eight weeks after two sessions of treatment (Table 1) compared to the baseline. Three dermatologists, unaware of the status of treatment, globally assessed clinical improvement; they graded the acne changes without knowledge of the clinical factors. The treated area was noted to have improved at visit one (week 1) and this improvement continued throughout the follow-up period (up to 12 week at least). The effects were determined based on comparisons of the assessed grades at baseline (Fig. 1) compared to the eight- week follow-up visit (Fig. 2) after the second treatment. Using the Wilcoxon signed rank test the differences were significant (p< 0.002). There was also a reduction in the noninflammatory lesion counts at the ALA-PDT site; but these changes did not reach statistical significance. The study subjects scored their overall satisfaction with the treatment, and 76.2% of the patients rated the treatment as either good or excellent.
Table 1. Clinical evaluation by Korean acne grading system
|
Patient |
Sex /age |
|
KADG (pretreatment) |
|
KADG |
||
|
|
|
Grade Papule |
Nodule |
Grade Papule |
Nodule |
||
|
1 |
|
3 |
36 |
4 |
2 |
16 |
0 |
|
2 |
M/24 |
4 |
21 |
12 |
|
22 |
4 |
|
3 |
M/21 |
4 |
42 |
13 |
2 |
9 |
0 |
|
4 |
|
3 |
39 |
|
1 |
10 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
45 |
7 |
2 |
|
0 |
|
6 |
M/29 |
4 |
38 |
18 |
2 |
15 |
0 |
|
7* |
M/25 |
5 |
47 |
28 |
|
32 |
6 |
|
8 |
F/24 |
3 |
51 |
9 |
2 |
28 |
0 |
|
9 |
F/25 |
|
48 |
8 |
2 |
24 |
0 |
|
10 |
F/28 |
3 |
34 |
4 |
2 |
16 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
Adverse effects
All subjects experienced a mild tingling or burning after two to three minutes of the treatment, which did not alter or worsen subsequent treatment. Patients reported side effects including discomfort or mild burning (n=8), stinging or pruritus (n=6) and acute pain necessitating analgesics (n = 1). Local edema and transient erythema usually occured for approximately 24 hours after light exposure. Transient hyperpigmentation (n=7) and mild perifollicular eruption (n=4) subsided within two hours; mild crusting (n=2) and superficial exfoliation (n=l) were observed and cleared without scarring. There were no significant abnormalities in the laboratory tests during and after treatment. eriacta tablets
Fig. 1. Patient 1. pretreatment state.
Fig. 2. Patient 1 posttreatment 8 weeks.
